Jerusalem, 28 August, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Finance Minister and Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday unveiled a plan to dramatically increase Jewish settlement in the Negev and Galilee, areas with large Arab-Israeli populations.
“Yes. Judaizing!” Smotrich declared on X, saying his party would bring the “revolution” it made in Judea and Samaria to the Negev and Galilee “on a grand scale.”
Smotrich aims to bring one million more Jews to the two regions, with 40 new settlements, dozens of farms, expanded existing communities and hundreds of thousands of new homes.
He also wants to cancel development plans in Arab communities that he says have taken over land reserves and threaten Jewish settlement.
The plan calls for new industrial and employment zones. Smotrich says the next government should remove planning barriers and appoint “Zionist professionals” to key positions in the Planning Administration and Israel Land Authority.